Needle assemblies consisting of a needle and of a needle guard protecting the needle and being hingedly connected so that it can be finger manipulated between a needle covering position to a needle using operation are well known.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,325 issued May 26, 1992 to Donald W. Patterson describes a needle assembly which comprises a needle device, having a needle base and a hollow needle, and a needle guard which consists of a protective sheath around the needle such that the pointed end of the needle is protected by the sheath. The assembly includes hinge components on the sheath and hinge components on the base cooperating with each other such that the needle guard is pivoted from a primary position in which the needle end is protected by the sheath to a secondary position in which the needle point is exposed for use.
However, in this assembly, the particular construction of the hinge components on the needle base and on the needle sheath is such that, when the sheath is pivoted so that the needle may be used, it can only rotate rearwardly to a position of 90.degree. maximum to the needle covering position. This has one major drawback in that, during the needle using operation, the sheath's presence is an encumbrance to the operator.